1. Technical Field
This invention generally relates to automotive outer body panels and, more particularly, to a method of molding an outer body panel and attaching that outer body panel to the vehicle.
2. Discussion
In general, outer body panels for automotive vehicles are individually manufactured and subsequently attached to the vehicle. Outer body panels for automotive vehicles typically include the hood, liftgate, decklid, and door panels, which each have a number of unique manufacturing and assembly design parameters. These panels are sometimes molded from fiber reinforced plastic materials using compression molding techniques and, once molded, are eventually affixed to an adjacent inner portion of the vehicle. For example, a molded outer door panel is typically affixed to an inner door panel, and quite often utilizes mechanical fasteners or adhesives to aid attachment. One problem with using adhesives is that the outer door panel must be maintained at a proper orientation with respect to the inner door member while the adhesive sets up. Likewise, mechanical fasteners are often cumbersome and require additional parts and steps to properly orient and attach the panels during assembly. Moreover, the addition of mechanical fasteners to molded inner and outer panels can introduce small metallic parts to what otherwise might be an all plastic assembly. Thus, the ease of recycling what might otherwise be an all plastic assembly could be hindered by the use of such metallic parts.